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ffran
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Apologize in advance for the long post! We are in this particular situation and, being a novice with electrical- related issues, would greatly appreciate opinions here.
After a year long search, we found this nice home in Texas meeting all requirements my wife and I were looking for, and at the right price! We entered the option period and the home inspection went good. In the meantime, we also had a radon inspector look at the home - and since he also did EMF inspections, we added that too to our inspection list.
The radon results were good but EMF inspections revealed generally elevated AC power related magnetic fields in the home & backyard. Most of the home showed 1.2 to 1.8 mGauss (0.12-0.18 microTesla), which though a little higher than typical, is still ok. The problem is that the first floor master bedroom and the porch/ backyard, which are situated towards the west side & back of this N-S oriented house, showed EMF up to 3-4 mG levels (an overview pic is attached). I know there is debate about what the safe levels are for chronic exposure, and that there are no legal mandates, but many healthcare panels recommend residential exposure below 3mG, preferably below 2.
The magnetic fields are actually much higher at the east, south and west perimeters of the home, presumably from the power feeds running underneath the property lines (to this home and neighbors), but they fall off rapidly to <2 as we get into the property from the boundary- but it is only on the west side that the MFs persist at 3-4 mG levels well into the backyard / porch and into the west side of the MBR.
The EMF inspector told us the high EMFs in the home are most likely due to underground power feeds on 3 sides of the home- and especially the one on the west side, feeding the neighbor’s home – and there was little we can do reduce this as the utility company would typically not cooperate. That being the case, we canceled the contract a couple of days ago, despite loving this home : (
The reason I am posting this now is because we visited another home yesterday - close to this home - and that has a similar configuration (N-S oriented, power feeds on east, west & south) - but most of this home had EMFs only in the 0.2-0.8 mG range! That surprised us as we expected high EMFs in this home too, for all the reasons as in the other home! I then googled a little and discovered that internal wiring issues and grounding problems can also cause elevated AC related magnetic fields within a home.
The home inspection on the last home had actually discovered some electrical issues - grounding wire not connected to the grounding rod, a live wire in the attic, no AFCI protection, etc. I am now wondering if these electrical issue were the cause or at least a significant contributor to the EMF in that house - all issues easily fixed by an electrician! My EMF inspector however thinks that to be extremely unlikely.
Since we have canceled that contract, it is a little indelicate to go back to the seller to ask that we would like to re-test the house for EMF (with say the mains and/or circuit breakers off, to check how much the internal issues are contributing to the elevated EMF). But if there was even a small chance (say 20% or higher), I would do that, just because we liked this home so much, after having looked at 36 others!
All of your informed opinions on the possibility of an internal wiring/grounding issue causing or contributing to the elevated EMFs in the home & backyard is greatly appreciated!
After a year long search, we found this nice home in Texas meeting all requirements my wife and I were looking for, and at the right price! We entered the option period and the home inspection went good. In the meantime, we also had a radon inspector look at the home - and since he also did EMF inspections, we added that too to our inspection list.
The radon results were good but EMF inspections revealed generally elevated AC power related magnetic fields in the home & backyard. Most of the home showed 1.2 to 1.8 mGauss (0.12-0.18 microTesla), which though a little higher than typical, is still ok. The problem is that the first floor master bedroom and the porch/ backyard, which are situated towards the west side & back of this N-S oriented house, showed EMF up to 3-4 mG levels (an overview pic is attached). I know there is debate about what the safe levels are for chronic exposure, and that there are no legal mandates, but many healthcare panels recommend residential exposure below 3mG, preferably below 2.
The magnetic fields are actually much higher at the east, south and west perimeters of the home, presumably from the power feeds running underneath the property lines (to this home and neighbors), but they fall off rapidly to <2 as we get into the property from the boundary- but it is only on the west side that the MFs persist at 3-4 mG levels well into the backyard / porch and into the west side of the MBR.
The EMF inspector told us the high EMFs in the home are most likely due to underground power feeds on 3 sides of the home- and especially the one on the west side, feeding the neighbor’s home – and there was little we can do reduce this as the utility company would typically not cooperate. That being the case, we canceled the contract a couple of days ago, despite loving this home : (
The reason I am posting this now is because we visited another home yesterday - close to this home - and that has a similar configuration (N-S oriented, power feeds on east, west & south) - but most of this home had EMFs only in the 0.2-0.8 mG range! That surprised us as we expected high EMFs in this home too, for all the reasons as in the other home! I then googled a little and discovered that internal wiring issues and grounding problems can also cause elevated AC related magnetic fields within a home.
The home inspection on the last home had actually discovered some electrical issues - grounding wire not connected to the grounding rod, a live wire in the attic, no AFCI protection, etc. I am now wondering if these electrical issue were the cause or at least a significant contributor to the EMF in that house - all issues easily fixed by an electrician! My EMF inspector however thinks that to be extremely unlikely.
Since we have canceled that contract, it is a little indelicate to go back to the seller to ask that we would like to re-test the house for EMF (with say the mains and/or circuit breakers off, to check how much the internal issues are contributing to the elevated EMF). But if there was even a small chance (say 20% or higher), I would do that, just because we liked this home so much, after having looked at 36 others!
All of your informed opinions on the possibility of an internal wiring/grounding issue causing or contributing to the elevated EMFs in the home & backyard is greatly appreciated!